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Sean Wise

Speaker Exclusive

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Professor of Entrepreneurship & Former Dragons' Den Advisor

As a celebrated business speaker and one of North America’s leading mentors with an unmistakable passion for business, Dr. Sean Wise specializes in helping emerging and high growth potential organizations jump on the trajectory and turn a profit. He is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson University, an award-winning author, and was a featured consultant on Canada’s popular Dragons’ Den business reality show series. Sean helps business dreams become profitable realities and has been praised for his energetic and thought-provoking presentations, as well as his ability to explain complex topics to his audiences.

Keynote Speeches

From Frankenstein to Chatbots: Unleashing the Power of AI for Good

Are you curious about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace? With the global artificial intelligence market set to hit US$ 1.5 trillion by 2030, it’s time for organizations to unlock its true potential.

In this keynote, Dr. Wise takes you on a journey through the history of AI, from Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” to modern-day chatbots. As an expert in disruptive entrepreneurship and innovation, Wise unveils the potential of AI in the workplace, shedding light on how it can be leveraged for good and not evil.

Dr. Wise shares insights into ChatGPT and other AI technologies that are transforming the way businesses operate. This presentation explores the rise of AI in the workforce, offering attendees a glimpse into the future of business operations.

Developing Entrepreneurial Mindsets

How Entrepreneurship can Empower Everyone – including YOU!

Blockchain, AI, Quantum Computing, the Metaverse, IOT, Crowdsourcing, Mixed Reality, Gene Editing – Today’s innovation occurs at such a rapid pace, it leaves many organizations and communities struggling to keep up.  New problems, new industries, require new skills. Newly emerging this year are skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. All core skills of the Entrepreneurial Mind. 

Having an entrepreneurial mindset is critical to being successful. An entrepreneurial mindset stands alone in terms of its importance. No other attribute, personality, inherent entrepreneurial proclivities, training, or demographic profile is common to all successful innovators whether Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, or the neighbourhood florist or grocer. Turn employees into critical thinkers by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset that will promote increases in happiness, productivity and innovation for your teams. 

Equally impactful for staff at a for-profit venture, a social venture, a charity, or a not-for-profit organization, the entrepreneurial mindset can help your team deliver exponential value to your stakeholders.

Key Takeaways:

  • An understanding of the attributes and perspectives of an entrepreneurial mindset, and the process to acquire one
  • Mindsets, exercises and views that will help each participate to think differently; to become more resilient and stress tolerant
  • How to excel and flourish in the face of uncertainty
2030: How Today's Innovations Create Tomorrow's Opportunity

Today’s innovation occurs at such a rapid pace, it leaves many organizations struggling to keep up. Breakthrough innovations such as Blockchain, AI, Quantum Computing, IOT, Crowdsourcing, Mixed Reality, Gene Editing are all hot points of discussion within media – but are they set to actually impact your organization?

In this presentation, Sean Wise will help you cut through the clutter to identify the disruptors that matter to you & provide you with a road map to turn disruption into a strategic opportunity. As a seed-stage investor with over 20 years of experience in technology investments, Wise makes his money five years in the future. He specializes in understanding how today’s innovations lead to tomorrow’s success. Wise has made millions following his own investment thesis, and in this talk, he’ll share secrets to identifying what comes next.

Key Takeaways:
• The 5 megatrends that will shape 2030. 
• Understand what innovations can be adopted internally.
• Inspiration to leverage these innovations to engage their stakeholders.

Lessons from Canada’s Best Business Leaders

Kevin O’Leary, John Sleeman, Debbie Travis, Alan Lau, Rose Reisman, Harry Rosen: Dr. Sean Wise has hosted them all on his business interview show; The Naked Entrepreneur which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Now he shares the naked truth behind the success of Canada’s greatest entrepreneurs. Big or small, there are lessons for all. Part inspiration. Part education. All entertaining. In this multimedia, interactive, and engaging keynote Wise illustrates the lessons all organizations can learn from these icons of the economy, these entrepreneurial champions, these masters of innovation. Learn the naked truth behind the success of Canada’s greatest entrepreneurs.

 

Big Data & Your Business

Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. For most enterprises “business as usual” simply won’t cut it. To adapt, companies, institutes and even NGOs must now operate not as bureaucratic machines but as learning organisms. Organisms that can leverage big data for agility, innovation and a better understanding of clients. The new 21st Century business model yields higher resiliency, greater innovation and superior customer service.  If your business is being pushed to evolve in a world of ever increasing change, speed and diversity, then this new way of operating may be for you.

 

Innovate like an Entrepreneur!

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of the Canadian economy. Startups today are responsible for 45 percent of new job creation in Canada. Similarly, Startups continue to be incubators for innovation producing 16.5 times more patents per employee than large firms. In the last decade, Proctor & Gamble has more than doubled their new product success rate (moving from 1 in 5 to 5 in 10) by moving away from internal corporate R&D and embracing entrepreneurship. So what can Entrepreneurs teach you, your team and your organization? In this interactive innovation season, Dr. Wise shares the naked truth behind entrepreneurial innovation and how you can too benefit from a greater entrepreneurial mindset. Leveraging the time he spent with uber entrepreneurs Kevin O’Leary, Brett Wilson, Harry Rosen, John Sleeman, Debbie Travis and many more, Wise will help engage and excite your team about innovation. Learn the 5 mindsets of the entrepreneurial innovator. Charge up your innovation pipeline by engaging your entire team.

Additional Presentations

Sean Wise offers additional presentations on Change Management & more. View additional presentations here

Platform Plus Presentations

Unique formats and ways to connect with audiences.
Workshop | First Funding: From Idea to Innovation
In this workshop, Professor Wise will cover the three major subjects of raising capital, innovation, and entrepreneurship. You will learn about the various sources of funding available, such as the government, angel investors, and banks. Professor Wise will also discuss how to get yourself and your business in a position to grow and how to build successful partnerships.
Event Moderator
Moderate Q&A sessions, interview presenters, summarize insights & more.
Panelist/In Conversation
Sean is a great panelist on topics such as entrepreneurship, change management, innovation, business strategy and more.

Audience reviews:

  • He brings valuable insights, a direct and frank dialogue, a willingness and enthusiasm to help a company succeed and his own proven track record to share experiences.

    - Senior Partner, Ernst & Young
  • I watched Sean Wise at the Canadian Sustainability Conference this past week and I was blown away. [In] distribution janitorial sales, I've been experimenting with AI over the last few months around how it can assist us with our customer communication, sales outreach, and follow up built into our CRM, and it has been a real awesome experience. Sean Wise's presentation really brought forward a lot of the things I have seen and experienced, but then also doubled down on some of the things that we need to be careful about and need to learn more about as a community that is testing this new product... A few weeks later, my company came out with an internal tool that would help control some of the data that we were inputting into AI to create more privacy parameters, and Sean Wise talked about that weeks before my company came out with that, so it was really eye opening to see. I think he did an amazing job at showcasing the power it has, the possibility, and how we need to be careful. - Director of Sales, Superior Sany Solutions
  • Sean Wise offered up an engaging and educational talk on artificial intelligence. After his presentation, I heard many of our attendees saying his talk was fabulous and very thought provoking and yet easy to understand. - General Manager, MCL Sustainable Cleaning Solutions
  • Interesting, motivating, and inspiring. His passion for work clearly shone through as he shared his past experiences and knowledge on what it takes to create a successful business venture.


    - Co-Chair, Queen's Entrepreneurs' Competition
  • We really enjoyed your presentation and heard some really fantastic anecdotal feedback form the crowd. You also did a fantastic job handling your first question from the crowd.

    - Manager, Collector Strategy & Program Design, AIR MILES Reward Program
  • He was truly amazing, he made our event!

    - CEO of PTEX Group
  • The learning's he brings to any stage are compelling and his advice is both direct and immediately relevant to his audience. What Al Gore is to the environment, Sean Wise is to entrepreneurs.

    - Partner, SA&P LLP
  • Your energy, affirmations, messages, etc – just what the Yukon doctor ordered! I hope you’ll have other opportunities to come back and entertain, educate and inspire future audiences.

    - Council of Yukon First Nations
  • It was clear the students were energized as was evident by all the chatter going on in the lobby and the intensity in the room during the presentations. Such a valuable day for our students!

    - Sheridan Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning

Speaker Biography

Dr. Sean Wise BA LLB MBA PhD is an expert on startups & venture capital. He uses this expertise in his various roles as: tenured Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson University, Professor, bestselling author, international business speaker, and partner at Ryerson Futures, a seed stage venture capital fund and technology accelerator.

Dr. Wise has been an entrepreneur since age 13. His latest venture is the edtech startup ProfBot.ai, which is in stealth mode. He’s already sold one of his startups for a staggering $30 million dollars, demonstrating his keen eye for successful business opportunities.

He has been in the Venture Capital industry for more than 15 years and has mentored hundreds of innovation focused startups; collectively, these companies have raised more than $2.1 Billion in capital. Over the last seven years, Dr. Wise has invested in over 26 startups, making him a seasoned veteran in the world of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Wise spent five seasons as an advisor for CBC on the mega hit venture reality show Dragons’ Den (aka Shark Tank, in America) before moving in front of the camera as the host of the Naked Entrepreneur, which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Dr. Wise writes a national column for the Huffington Post (titled: “Dear Professor Investor”) in which he answers some of the toughest startup questions posted.

Dr. Wise studied economics and engineering at Carleton University, earned his MBA and Law degrees from the University of Ottawa, and received his PhD in Business from the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow. He has published five books and more than two dozen peer-reviewed research papers and case studies of high-growth startups. His research on social network analysis for collective intelligence and innovation has been featured at MIT’s COINs conference and the Academy of Management. Dr. Wise is also a talented moderator having spent five years as the host of the Naked Entrepreneur, which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

As faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University, Dr. Wise has been exploring the ethical and social impacts of AI use cases for campus. As an investor with Ryerson Futures, he has supported dozens of startups, including one of Canada’s leading AI companies: Ada.